Category: Bible Verses
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1 Samuel 28:5-20: Contacting the Dead
Some have said this passage gives approval to participate in activities that deal with spirits and the dead. Yet even if it is possible to communicate with the dead, the Bible very clearly says that attempting to do so is wrong (see Lev 19:31; 20:27; Dt 18:10-12; Is 8:19). The consequences for disobeying God were…
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Numbers 23:19: Does God Change His Mind?
Does God ever change His mind? Some skeptics like to point to certain passages—including the book of Jonah—to show how God randomly changes His mind, thus producing a contradiction when this verse is considered. The Bible explains how God is omniscient (“all knowing”) and is surprised by nothing. From the human point of view, it…
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Exodus 33:20: Is it possible to see God?
Many skeptics and cultists have compared this verse with verse 11, which says Moses saw God “face to face” (also see Gen 32:30; Deut. 5:4). It is, they say, a contradiction. However, some passages in the Bible are not meant to be taken literally, including the expression “face to face.” This figuratively means that God…
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Genesis 2:17: Did the serpent tell the truth?
God promised Adam and Eve that they would surely die if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because they did not physically die right after they ate, some skeptics like to say this is a contradiction. Yet the majority of Jewish and Christian commentators agree that, while both Adam…
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80+ Verses to Use in Apologetic Encounters
Have you ever tried to memorize scripture but it was just too hard to remember all the words in a verse? Or have you ever been in a witnessing situation and wanted to use a particular verse–it’s at the tip of your tongue–but you forgot where it was located? (“It’s in the Bible…somewhere.”) Consider learning…
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Romans 8:16-17: Are we heirs with God?
Romans 8:16-17 By Eric Johnson Romans 8:16-17 have been used by some Mormons to support the idea that there is such a thing as “preexistence” and “exaltation” as gods. It reads, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and…
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Acts 17:29: Are we the offspring of God?
In Acts 17:16-34, Paul addresses the philosophers and leaders of Greek gods and goddesses at Mars Hill in Athens. Instead of worshipping the “unknown God,” he explains in verse 23, his desire is to share the Lord of heaven and earth. In order to make his point, he uses no support from scriptural passages, only…
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2 Peter 1:4: Can People Become Divine?
As with everything else, Bible verses taken out of their context. We must understand several things: 1) When a person becomes a Christian through faith in Christ, he/she becomes a child of God (John 1:12; Romans 8:9-21). This is called justification, which happens only through belief. 2) When a person is a believer, good works…
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1 Corinthians 8:5: Are there other gods?
First Corinthians 8:5 says, “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God.” Third President John Taylor explained, “…it may be well enough to say at the outset that Mormonism embraces a plurality of…
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Isaiah 40:3: Does the Bible speak about Joseph Smith?
According to Isaiah 40:3, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.” Tenth President Joseph Fielding Smith said, “You may apply this to John if you will, and this is true…But I will go further and maintain that Joseph Smith…
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Does Malachi 3:1 Speak About Joseph Smith?
Malachi 3:1 states: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” On page 23 of the January 1989 Ensign, it reads: Malachi prophesied of the…
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Does 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Support The Great Apostasy?
2 Thessalonians 2:3 says, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first . . .” This verse is sometimes used to support the idea of a Great Apostasy. However, the context is not explaining that there would be a complete apostasy. As…
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Does Isaiah 29:4-12 predict the coming forth of the Book of Mormon?
By Bill McKeever and Eric JohnsonIn a 2007 general conference address, Apostle Russell M. Nelson insisted that the Bible predicted the coming forth of the Book of Mormon:
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Does 1 Peter 4:6 Support Post-Mortem Salvation?
By Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson
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1 Peter 3:18-20: Saved by Baptism?
1 Peter 3:18–20 says,“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of…
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Colossians 2:12-13: Is Water Baptism required for salvation?
By Bill McKeever and Eric JohnsonColossians 2:12–13 says, “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven…
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Romans 6:3-4: Buried with Him by Baptism into Death
By Bill McKeever and Eric JohnsonRomans 6:3–4 says, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we…
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Acts 22:16: Is baptism a requirement for salvation?
By Bill McKeever and Eric JohnsonActs 22:16 says, “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Is Ananias stressing the act of water baptism in order to wash away a person’s sins? Or is he emphasizing calling on the name of the Lord?…
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John 3:5-6: Is baptism a requirement for salvation?
By Bill McKeever and Eric JohnsonJohn 3:5–6 says, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”We must ask…